Main Memory Configuration; Memory Speed - HP Compaq dx6050 MT Configuration Manual

Main Memory Configuration

Graphics performance depends, in part, on memory configuration.
Main memory offers the end-user a number of configuration options, as shown in Table 2.
Table 2. Auto graphics memory allocation
Characteristic Description
Support PC2100, PC2700
DIMM slots Two
Channels Single (one DIMM deployed), dual (two DIMMs deployed)
As shown in Table 2, the system board of the HP Business PC dx6050 includes two DIMM slots, each
delivering an independent, 64-bit-wide memory channel. Configuring these channels appropriately
can impact graphics performance.
• Single channel–With one DIMM slot populated, the memory bus is 64-bits wide. Memory
bandwidth is significantly less than that of the processor's front-side bus; the processor often wastes
valuable CPU cycles waiting for access to memory.
• Dual channel–With both DIMM slots populated, the memory bus becomes128-bits wide, doubling
memory bandwidth. Memory performance can improve significantly.
Note
Performance tests carried out by HP on a HP Business PC dx6050 show the
following performance gains for dual-channel over single-channel memory:
SYSmark test suites, 5.6%–7.6%; Winstone test suites, 0.4%–2.9%; Mad
Onion 3DMark, as much as 65%.
These test results only serve as a reference to demonstrate differences that
may exist between memory configurations.
The results may vary with system configuration and driver versions.

Memory Speed

Graphics performance depends, in part, on memory speed.
For convenience, the HP Business PC dx6050 supports two DDR memory standards:
• PC2100–266 MHz
• PC2700–333 MHz
However, actual memory speed is constrained
For some Athlon XP processors the front-side bus speed is 266 MHz–no performance advantage is
gained by using faster PC2700 memory with these processors. However, other processors, such as
the XP2800+ and XP3000+, have front-side buses that operate at 333 MHz and can take advantage
of the higher performance of PC2700 memory.
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To maximize system performance, the BIOS sets actual memory speed to not exceed the speed of the front-side bus.
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by the speed of the processor's front-side bus.
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